Tench.

This is coolbert:

Serendipitously came across this item of interest.

"Taipei reaches a deal to keep ageing submarines afloat"

 "The 30-year-old vessels are the vanguard of Taiwan’s limited subs fleet"

AGEING THIRTY YEAR OLD VESSELS AS DUTCH SUBMARINES PROCURED IN THE 1980'S.

Further:

"The Taiwanese Navy has two even older submarines, Tench class vessels commissioned in the 1940s that were purchased from the US Navy in the 1970s. Their torpedo tubes were sealed, but the subs are still operational and reportedly capable of combat."

"Last year Taipei announced a US$19 million retrofit program to improve the hulls and diesel navigational systems, intended to extend their service lives until 2026. This will make them the longest-serving submarines in history, though their deterrence value against the Chinese forces is questionable."

OF EXACT WHAT DETERRENCE VALUE A SUBMARINE WITH SEALED TORPEDO TUBES PRESENTS I AM NOT CLEAR AS TO THIS!

Consider also that:

* A Tench class submarine of the World War Two Era would have cost about $3 million USD.

* Building that same Tench class submarine today would cost about $46 million USD.

* A modern brand-new diesel/electric boat costs about half a billion dollars [USD].

* Unseal those torpedo tubes and equip the two Tench class submarines with ENCAP [encapsulated] Harpoon anti-ship missiles already in the Taiwanese arsenal and you do have a fighting vessel that when used in the proper manner can pose a formidable threat.

* Devoted readers to the blog also recall that the mainland Chinese MANUFACTURING AND SELLING brand-new knock-off copies of the WW2 German XXI type submarine!!

Devoted readers to the blog take it from there!

coolbert.

Unfit.

This is coolbert:

How the mighty have fallen! RAF British.

From WIZARD through Harry at Sharkhunters and as is germane to several prior blog entries here, here, here and here.

"KIWI. DODO. FLIGHTLESS BIRDS – One in three of the British Royal Air Force's (RAF) planes are 'unfit to fly.' Allegedly, around 142 of 434 aircraft are stashed away in the force's so-called ‘sustainment fleet,' essentially a storage place for out-of-action jets or those needing 'major repairs.'"

Among those front-line air superiority fighter warplanes such as the Eurofighter Typhoon consider also that percentage of aircraft not ready to either fly or be deployed into combat on an instantaneous basis worse than "one-in-three".

Such a situation not confined to the British either. Those European nations part and parcel of the NATO alliance their ready-to-go warplane fleet numbers in some cases far less than desirable. This is an across-the-board type of situation?

coolbert.

Options.

This is coolbert:

What makes the world go round?

Once more from WIZARD through Harry at Sharkhunters items of interest:

"DAPPER DIVERS – When British Navy chiefs asked submariners what would improve their morale, higher pay and better equipment topped the list. But the sailors also suggested a cheaper option likely to catch the eye of top brass: allowing them to wear their classic white roll-neck jumpers more often. At the moment, crews can only don the traditional knitwear when at sea, but the sailors want the rules relaxed so they can wear the sweaters on shore, too."

"TERRIBLE! INHUMANE! – Senior British officers have risked upsetting troops stationed 8,000 miles from home with a new ban on inappropriate pictures of naked women on the walls of their barracks! Troops in the Falklands had plastered their rooms - in some cases, every inch of walls and ceilings - with pictures of naked, topless, and scantily clad women torn from the pages of magazines and newspapers."

Haute couture English style. As for the "naked, topless, and scantily clad" be careful not to upset the visiting dignitaries.

coolbert.

Gershon.

This is coolbert:

Here with the pronouncements of Major General  [res.] Gershon Hacohen the Israeli perspective the Syrian situation and especially vis-a-vis what is perceived as the Iranian threat. Thanks to the Sheldon Adelson Internet web site Israel Hayom.

When this man speaks you have to listen! Indeed! Gershon is a very interesting person.

"Let this be the decisive campaign"

"The military campaign Israel is waging in Syria escalated this week. The Russian response to recent events, a public demand that Israel cease its attacks in Syria, presents a watershed moment for Israel. Right now, the Israeli leadership seems to think that this moment will pass and it can stick to its strategy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a series of announcements that Israel, under his leadership, is indeed determined to keep fighting."

Read the whole thing. With special emphasis on the strategic "three goals" of the Israeli.

Again, the Syrian Civil War now a war more of foreign interventionists versus foreign interventionists. Two of those interventionists confirmed nuclear powers!! I am assuming Israel a confirmed nuclear power.

None of this is good, foreboding even! Escalation in the proverbial heartbeat a possibility. For all that will mean.

coolbert.

Soleimani.

This is coolbert:

Also from the latest edition of the DEBKAfile news letter the Iranian intention in Syria as American forces depart from the area per the plan of the Trump administration made most clear.

American troops will not be allowed in a manner without being harried constantly. Chased and constantly set-upon is the hope of the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

"Soleimani primes pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq for terror attacks on exiting US forces"

19 January.

"Iran's Mid East commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani has devised a plot to force US troops not just to leave Syria but to be thrown out of US bases in Iraq as well. That is one track of his triple strategy."

A triple strategy to consist of:

* "One is the deployment of 10,000 Iraqi Shiite militia on the Syrian border."

* "The second is the creation of liaison hubs for the Iraqi PMU militiamen to coordinate militarily with the Arab tribes of eastern Syria. They will set up squads for engineering terrorist operations against the US troops heading out of Syria."

* "For the Al Qods chief's third track Tehran is planting [settling] Shiite communities from Iraq and families of the Afghan and Palestinian Shiite militias imported to fight for Assad in Syrian villages and townships located along the Damascus-Beirut highway"

Saigon, 1975, deja vu all over again? That is what the Iranian prays and hopes for. But will not get?

coolbert.

Commercial.

This is coolbert::

Here also what it is all about. Russian warning to the Israel to stop with the "arbitrary" missile attacks the intended targets Iranian Revolutionary Guard Forces.

From the latest edition of the DEBKAfile newsletter:

"Moscow tells Israel to stop attacks on Damascus airport – report"

18 January.
     
"Russian officials have informed Israel that any more attacks on or around Damascus airport will not be tolerated, the London-based Al Quds al-Arabia reported Friday. Moscow is planning steps to bring the airport back to full operational and commercial capability . . . There was no comment on what would happen in the event of further Israeli attacks on Iranian flights carrying weapons or military equipment."

The international airport Damascus serves both commercial and military traffic.A dual-purpose facility and in certain instances a legitimate target of Israeli missile attack.

Attacks from the air consider not to be so "arbitrary" as claimed by the Russian.

coolbert.

Zelzal.

This is coolbert:

From Iranian [controlled?] media and in context to the most recent blog entries here is what the fuss is all about.

"Iranian Rockets Hit Iranian Kurdish Opposition Headquarters In Northern Iraq (Videos)"

"On September 8, heavy Iranian rockets stuck the headquarters of two Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in the northern Iraqi town of Koya."

SEE ALL EMBEDDED VIDEOS!!

"The KDPI said that the Iranian rocket strike targeted a conference held by the political office of the party and a nearby refugee camp. According to the Kurdish group, 11 people were killed and up to 30 others were wounded in the rocket strike. Kurdish activists revealed that most of the casualties were members and officials of the KDPI and the PDKI."

This attack on Kurdish senior leadership a show of force and a demonstration of capability that must be most worrisome to the Israel. Zelzal rocket artillery carrying a large warhead with considerable range. AND BEYOND THAT APPARENTLY SOME SORT OF PRECISION GUIDANCE ALSO EMBEDDED!

Iranian Revolutionary Guard units as active in Syria having at their disposal a weapons system able to strike almost at will any target in Israel and do so with an apparent ease [?] almost at their leisure?

Again, this all must be quite worrisome to the Israeli. Take action now rather than regret not doing so later?

coolbert.

Rebuke.

This is coolbert:

Finally and in conclusion yet more from the Israeli Internet web site Ynet:

"Russia's rebuke of Israel's Syria strikes wasn't mere lip service"

"lip service - - noun: an avowal of advocacy, adherence, or allegiance expressed in words but not backed by deeds"

As dated 24 January.

"Analysis: By making itself the sole superpower in the region, Moscow must create balance that keeps everyone happy; but the Israelis, the Syrians and the Iranians are all griping and fighting to advance their own interests."

"Following the kinetic military conflict in Syria on Sunday night between Israel, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Assad regime, Wednesday saw the 'soft' conflict between the sides on the public diplomatic arena. This is how struggles on the international arena are managed in the second decade of the current millennium: the fighting continues, but not with violence."

Not merely words on the part of the Russian? Lethal action will be taken to prevent further Israeli air force air strikes on Iranian targets located within Syrian territory. Indeed, some sort of combat action on the part of the Russian already a fact?

With regard to kinetic and soft conflict consider these definitions:

Kinetic - - "Kinetic military action is a euphemism for military action involving active warfare, usually including lethal force."

Soft - - "Soft war is the idea that non-kinetic means such as cyber warfare, communications interruptions, sanctions, and even misinformation and fake news are simply other methods of accomplishing a state or group’s aims without physical action."

Again, Israel, you have been warned. Indeed, this is tense and frightening. 

coolbert.

Soft.

This is coolbert:

NO more! You have been warned!

Arbitrary but not really arbitrary? Those are the questions?

Once again from the Israeli Internet web site Ynet:

"Russia tells Israel: No more 'arbitrary' air strikes in Syria"

As dated 23 January.

"Moscow delivers message to Israeli ambassador, two days after IAF [Israeli Air Force] struck Iranian targets around Damascus area in response to rocket attack on Golan Heights."

"Russia is demanding that Israel end its 'arbitrary' air strikes on targets in Syria, two days after the Israeli Air Force struck a series of Iranian military and intelligence targets in response to a rocket strike on the Golan Heights"

Russian air defense now linked and incorporated into the Syrian air defense network. Israeli warplanes not necessarily intruding into Syrian airspace but firing missiles aimed at Iranian targets NOW to be countered by Russian highly sophisticated and capable air defense system. And are being countered.

Such is the threat from Moscow? NO more! Thus and no further Israel?

coolbert.

Kinetic.

This is coolbert:

Here begins a series of blog entries extracts with my commentary from the Israeli Internet web site Ynet.

Combat! Russia! Iran! Israel!

Air strikes continuing! Israeli air force on an almost continuous and clock-work basis firing salvoes of missiles at targets within Syria, the objective to destroy the fighting capacity of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard units.

"Israel launches massive bombardment on Iranian targets in Syria after rocket attack"

As dated 21 January.

"At least 11 pro-Assad regime fighters said killed; Syrian military says four troops among the dead, claims to have destroyed 'most of the hostile targets' during Israel Air Force attack on Iranian Quds targets near Damascus; IDF says the raid came in response to rocket launched at Golan Heights a day earlier"

An unheralded and unreported conflict but nonetheless war as that word war generally understood now taking place between the Israeli and the Iranian. Foreign interventionist fighting foreign interventionist, the theater of war Syria. Again, this combat occurring for some time now, on a "clock-work" and regular basis, unabated!

coolbert.

 

Hoover.

This is coolbert:

A pacifist but not without military experience, even if indirectly so. 

And President of the United States. Herbert Hoover.

I highly recommend without qualification or reservation this item as from the Internet web site Strategy Page Professor Al Nofi CIC # 468.

"Profile - Herbert Hoover: Businessman in the White House"

"An engineer, noted scholar, pacifist, and humanitarian, Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) became president at a time of unprecedented prosperity, but left office in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the nation’s history."

. . . .

"Herbert Hoover never served in uniform. But he did have some informal military experience."

Indirect combat experience during  the Chinese Boxer Rebellion. Indirect experience during a time of war DURING and AFTER the Great War [WW1]. Organizing and distributing humanitarian food assistance to the starving populations of Europe DURING and AFTER the war. AFTER the war to include the Soviet Union! Millions of lives saved!

This all an aspect of the legacy of Herbert Hoover. That legacy of course tainted in a severe manner by the Great Depression. The legacy of Hoover however not complete and fully understood unless without regard to those years of the man prior to his Presidency and thank you Professor Al.

coolbert.

Intercept WW1.

This is coolbert:

From the Internet web site of the American Central Intelligence Agency an archived item.

"The Early Development of Communications Intelligence" [COMINT]

CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM courtesy the German original author Wilhelm F. Flicke.

Radio intercept and intelligence the Great War [WW1].

"The German command missed its greatest opportunity during this same [1917] spring. The French army in its unsuccessful attack on the Aisne and east of Reims had suffered such severe losses that its morale was badly shaken. Intercepted messages revealed that there was mutiny in numerous army corps, that individual soldiers and whole units were leaving the front or deserting to the enemy. In this situation they could not have resisted a German attack. But the incredible happened: the German command, seeing in this situation a parallel with the Russian front, expected the French power of resistance to collapse without any further German action. It missed the chance which was never to return. While the Germans waited for capitulation Petain resumed command, the crisis came to an end, and the French front stood firm again."

THE MUTINY OF THE FRENCH ARMY WW1!

French troops in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Nivelle Offensive no longer willing to go on the offensive. Over-the-top and toward the German denied by mutinous action. Defense still thought to be proper but further fruitless offensive action by French troops now out of the question.

MY UNDERSTANDING OF THESE EVENTS HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE GERMAN NOT EVEN AWARE THE FRENCH TROOPS HAD MUTINIED! THIS PERCEPTION OF MINE APPEARS TO BE WRONG.

German senior commanders content to wait things out. Allow the mutiny to create conditions where the French government would have no option but to negotiate a surrender with terms favorable to the German.

Total collapse and French surrender did not occur.  But YES knowledge of the mutiny was KNOWN to the German and thanks to radio intercept.

coolbert.

Outrage RAF.

This is coolbert:

Bomber Command RAF under fire. Seventy years and more after the fact. Even beyond Bomber Command too!

Piers Morgan to the rescue. Thanks to the Daily Mail in all instances.

"Why do you beat us with the things we are proud of?': Piers Morgan blasts campaigner who says WWII bombers committed a 'war crime' in fiery debate about memorial vandals"

The Bomber Command memorial having been vandalized with white paint.

"A controversial academic today faced to wrath of Britain's veterans and their families after calling the RAF airmen who bombed Nazi Germany war criminals."

UNDERSTAND THIS ALL PART OF A "SPREE" OF SUCH DESECRATION'S AS COMMITTED OVER A TWELVE-HOUR SPAN!!

"Police are still hunting for the gang who toured central London throwing white paint over multiple war memorials and a Winston Churchill statue during a 12-hour vandalism spree"

The memorial as we speak being cleaned!

See previous blog entries as germane to the topic of war memorial desecration:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2018/08/desecration.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/11/plovdiv.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2018/11/prank.html

Evil! Evil! And to all those that do so STOP!

coolbert.

Boost.

This is coolbert:

From the controlled [?] Russian media outlet Sputnik a very dull, repetitive and misleading headline

"More Bang, More Buck: US Considers Adding ICBM Interceptors to F-35"

"In all likelihood, adding more bells and whistles to the F-35 can only make its $1.5 trillion program price more expensive, while experts have questioned if the plan is even realistic."

"The Pentagon's top research official is mulling whether to add air-to-air interceptors to the F-35's weapons arsenal in order to give the stealth fighters anti-ballistic missile capabilities, a new report says."

F-35 a POSSIBLE mission of missile interceptor but ONLY indirectly so.

The sensors of the F-35 have a POTENTIAL anti-missile capability. Those highly advanced sensors as embedded in the F-35 able to detect and track the boost-phase launch of an ICBM, providing to GROUND BASED anti-ballistic-missiles of the THAAD variety valuable data essential to a successful intercept.

This very topic as was discussed in a previous blog entry:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/12/f-35-icbm.html

Please Sputnik, do not be so alarmist or misleading. Stick to reality and watch your headlines.

coolbert.

Passage.

This is coolbert:

Yet one more headline courtesy the Russian controlled [?] media outlet Sputnik. More yawns?

"US May Send Warship Through Taiwan Strait Amid China Tensions - Navy Chief"

"In late October 2018, the Pentagon sent two US Navy vessels through the Taiwan Strait, in the second such operation that year. Beijing voiced serious concern about the move, while Taiwanese officials claimed that the island's defense ministry was in full control of the situation"

"The US Navy doesn't rule out sending an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait despite risks related to China's increasing military capabilities, Admiral John Richardson, chief of the US's naval operations, said."

"'We don't really see any kind of limitation on whatever type of ship could pass through those waters. We see the Taiwan Strait as another [stretch of] international waters, so that's why we do the transits,'" - -  Richardson

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT BY WARSHIPS THROUGH INTERNATIONAL WATERS?

CAN BE SEEN BY THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS AS INTIMIDATION ALSO? AN INSTANCE OF DEMONSTRABLE AMERICAN RESOLVE?

Two warships hard qualifies as an international incident? Especially when sailing in international waters. This is much to-do about nothing?

DURING THE KOREAN WAR THE AMERICAN SEVENTH FLEET HAVING INTERPOSED ITSELF BETWEEN THE ASIAN MAINLAND AND TAIWAN HAVING GUARANTEED THE SURVIVAL OF THE CHINESE NATIONALIST REGIME AND PREVENTING FURTHER AND MORE  DESTRUCTIVE CONFLICT IN THE REGION.

See previous blog entry the topic of which was the Chinese Nationalists being an indirect winner of the Korean war.

coolbert.

B-Patrone.

This is coolbert:

As is the subject of a You Tube video the exploding sniper round as used by the German [Soviet also] during the Second World War [WW2]:

Comments:

* My understanding has been that exploding rounds of this small caliber are outlawed by the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868. The Hague Convention of 1899 outlawed expanding rounds [dum-dum bullets].

* Snipers of the era [Second World War] not even needing an exploding round anyhow. Most personnel their duty as a dedicated sniper meant an individual with extraordinary marksmanship skills. Enemy in almost cases vanquished by a head shot or a round to the center-line vitals of the body. Exploding round not needed for additional lethality.

* This exploding round will not detonate anyhow when striking soft tissue? Use as an anti-personnel round very limited if not almost non-existent in that regard.

* Modern exploding .50 [12.7 mm] Raufoss Mk 211 ammunition versatile when employed against objects such as thin-skinned vehicles, the cockpit or jet engine or a warplane on the round, etc. It is suggested the Raufoss round when fired against personnel might be illegal if the target wearing body armor? And how exactly from a range of a thousand meters does the shooter know the enemy is wearing body armor?

* $15 USD a shot! More of a collectors item than a round you would fire, even if you intend to make an informative and dramatic video!

coolbert.

Pirata!

This is coolbert:

Pirates of the Caribbean. Not a movie. Not a Disney World attraction. For real and very deadly.

Not cutlass and flintlock pistol either. Today AK, RPG and PKM.

From Spectator USA and the article by Colin Freeman

"Pirates of the Caribbean: How Venezuela’s near collapse is causing a crisis on the seas"

"Families are scavenging to survive. It’s not quite Somalia – but it isn’t far off"

"In lawless ports like Guiria in the Venezuelan state of Sucre, the pirates operate with near impunity, kidnapping Trinidadian fishermen and holding them for ransom. They also smuggle boatloads of cocaine and guns into Trinidad. Guns and coke are two commodities still widely available in Venezuela. On the return run, the pirates bring back the ordinary provisions that are in desperately short supply in their home country: nappies, rice and cooking oil. Think Narcos with speedboats and packets of Pampers."

That topic of modern-day piracy not an item as included in the blog for some time now. Think usually Strait of Malacca, Horn of Africa, Nigeria. And now in the ancient and venerable manner the Caribbean. As it was during the times of Henry Morgan and Jean Lafitte so as it is now in those waters contiguous to Venezuela.

Aargh!!

coolbert.

Kelly.

This is coolbert:

Beware Caesar the Ides! Beware boys the malware!

"This Knockout Instagram Girl May Be the USAF’s Most Cost-Effective Recruiting Asset."

"Airman Kelly Davis' depictions of life outside Air Force duty hours portray an adventurous, aspirational lifestyle that could help influence other young people to pursue an Air Force career."

"She has more Instagram followers than the Air Force’s new F-35 Demo Team. Her Instagram is followed by nearly as many people as the well-established Air Force Heritage Flight Instagram page. She has three times as many followers as the official USAF ROTC Instagram page. With 12,200+ followers on Instagram compared to 10,300 for the new, official U.S. Air Force F-35 Demo Team [and] there are more eyes are on her page than the Air Force’s most expensive demo aircraft."

Kelly Davis. Described as an airman!

And boys as I have said beware the Kelly. Not Kelly personally but images as might be found on Instagram and downloaded to your PC or smart phone. Entities, possibly foreign intelligence services hostile to the United States might have secretly embedded malware in those images, risque, enticing and alluring as they are. Malware that allows the unknown and hostile entities to take control of your PC or smart phone without your knowledge and use YOUR OWN device against you in some manner.

Read further a previous blog entry that describes such malware with additional links:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2018/09/media.html

coolbert.

Razz Dazz.

This is coolbert:

Without any ado images of modern warships hull and superstructure painted in the dazzle fashion. See previous blog entry the topic was dazzle.

Swedish vessel HSwMS Gävle.

Swedish vessel HSwMS Sturkö.

Swedish vessel HSwMS Visby.

Norwegian patrol boat. this is more camouflage in the traditional variety than dazzle?

American LCS [Littoral Combat Ship] of the Freedom class.

Dazzle as a measure designed to confuse the optical range-finders of enemy combat surface vessels during the Great War [WW1]. Confuse even more so the optical range-finders of submarines.

Long-range missiles with radar, infra-red and GPS guidance as might be the dominant force in modern naval warfare makes dazzle a totally ineffective defensive measure. Dazzle however looks "cool"?

coolbert.

Spit.

This is coolbert:

Land where there is no land. Is this spit in their faces or throw sand in their eyes?

As is in the context of a previous blog entry and thanks to the Russian media outlet Sputnik:

"Poland Plans to Build Artificial Island on Outskirts of Russian Exclave"

Exclave correct and not enclave!

"The island will be owned by the Polish government, but it remains unclear what purpose it will serve. According to media reports, access to the island will be restricted."

"Poland has revealed plans to construct an artificial island in the Kaliningradskiy Zaliv (also known as the Vistula Lagoon), not far from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Polish newspaper Wyborcza reported. The island will be made from earth dug up during the construction of a channel going through the Kaliningradskaya Kosa (also known as the Vistula Spit) to the Baltic Sea. The construction of both could reportedly cost some $236 million."

THAT CHANNEL AS WITHIN POLISH TERRITORY AND ALLOWING FOR SHIPS MOVEMENTS TO AND FRO THE VISTULA LAGOON AND THE BALTIC AND GOING TO BE BUILT AT THE BEHEST OF AMERICAN AND NATO MILITARY PLANNERS.

Insult to injury? The Russian is very touchy about such matters! You the devoted reader to the blog decide for yourself. 

coolbert.

Draken.

This is coolbert:

ATAC does not live in a vacuum? Draken International a competitor? Private concerns apparently offering DACT [Dissimilar Aircraft Combat Training] to the air forces of various nations on a worldwide basis. Top Gun and Red Star world-wide?

"Check Out The Cockpit In Draken International's Private Mirage F-1M Aggressor Jets"

"Dozens of Mirage F-1s will soon be roaring through the skies over the United States."

Thanks to The Drive and the article by Tyler Rogoway

"Draken International, the adversary support contractor with the world's largest private tactical jet air force, is working hard to bring their fleet of 22 ex-Spanish Air Force Mirage F-1M fighters to life. They will serve as the backbone of the firm's so called 'fourth generation' fighter threat emulation capability, with features that primarily include a capable air-to-air radar and supersonic performance. Draken aims for the planes to fulfill the ever expanding demand for advanced private adversary support, both at home in the U.S. and abroad"

Image courtesy The Drive and José "Fuji" Ramos! Outstanding photography. Click on image to see an enlarged view. I can imagine that display beautiful at night. But you had as a pilot better know what you are doing! Impressive and I am impressed!

Read here further of ATAC. American private aviation company their mission DACT!

Devoted readers to the blog be aware that "private concerns" such ATAC or Draken have at their disposal a larger in number fly-able and combat ready warplanes beyond which might be found in the air forces of such  medium-sized military powers such as Great Britain, France, Germany!!

coolbert.

Bloop.

This is coolbert:

Always on alert for paranormal experiences and description of same that have the military dimension.

Such as the case here. USO [Unidentified Submerged Objects]! American submariners on alert!

Thanks once more to the Internet web site The Drive and the article by Tyler Rogoway

"What U.S. Submariners Actually Say About Detection Of So-Called Unidentified Submerged Objects"

"Big claims abound about mysterious objects submariners detect below the waves, so we went straight to the source and what we found out was surprising."

"There has been a spate of high-profile claims regarding U.S. Navy nuclear submarines detecting and even interacting with the underwater equivalent of Unidentified Flying Objects, referred to in UFO circles as USOs, or Unidentified Submerged Objects. Yet when it comes to the covert world of naval warfare below the waves, it is easy for laymen to misinterpret things that may seem very much alien to them, but are actually quite commonplace."

Inexplicable undersea noises. See this You Tube video. Such noises more more numerous than generally believed? Unidentified in all [?] cases? Go listen for yourself. To me these "noises" represent a big nothing!

There is of course in all cases a very reasonable and natural scientific explanation for these phenomenon! Isn't there?

coolbert.

Butcher.

This is coolbert:

Butcher bird!! Best?

From the Internet web site the National Interest and thanks to same:

"Forget the P-51 Mustang or Zero: This Was the Best Fighter Plane During World War II"

"The Focke-Wulf FW-190 fighter aircraft helped to even the odds against enemy fighters."

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE!

Comments:

* The famous German combat aviator of the Second World War [WW2] Johannes Steinhoff rating the American P-51 Mustang as the BEST fighter place of that era. Johannes also having a high opinion of the Soviet La-5 and La-7.

* As was not known to me, the FW-190 also an excellent ground-attack warplane and used as so extensively on the Eastern Front of WW2. I had thought the FW only functioning as an interceptor in the role of defense of the Reich against attack by the four-engine bomber threat of the allied air forces.

* Positive aeronautic features and elements of the FW 190 incorporated into the design of the British Hawker Fury. The Fury as seeing action during the Korean War and comporting itself well as a combat aircraft EVEN DURING AIR-AIR DUELS WITH SOVIET MiG-15 jet!!

BEST a very subjective term. Personally I prefer the opinion of Steinhoff.

coolbert.

Vengeance.

This is coolbert:

From WIZARD through Harry at Sharkhunters:

More problems with the British Royal Navy Astute class of submarine?

Most complicated thing made by man but seemingly the entire class of vessel jinxed?

"jinxed - - 2. A condition or period of bad luck that appears to have been caused by a specific person or thing."

"Are Royal Navy submarines appear to be blind… first HMS ASTUTE, touted as the world’s the most sophisticated submarine, ran aground. A short time later, her sister ship HMS AMBUSH surfaced right under a mammoth tanker and now we note that there are online photos of HMS VENGEANCE returning to her base in Scotland from her latest three-month deployment with ‘considerable damage’. The report states that some 30% of her sonar panels were shed at some point during her mission."

THE MODERN SUBMARINE RUNNING "BLIND" UNDERWATER RELIANT ALMOST TOTALLY 100 % ON WHAT CAN BE "HEARD" VIA SONAR, PASSIVE AND  ACTIVE. NO SONAR NO CAN SEE, NO CAN DO MISSION!

coolbert.

Gatwick.

This is coolbert:

From a recent edition of the DEBKAfile news letter some particulars of interest, the drone attack on the Gatwick airport [England], consider the Israeli connection:

"Israeli-made Drone Dome posted at Gatwick airport"

22 December.

"The anti-drone Drone Dome system developed by Israel was deployed at Gatwick airport to halt the disruption by rogue drones which forced the cancellation of 1,400 flights in 36 hours. Drone Dome was deployed at Gatwick because of its capacity to jam an intruding drone’s broadcasts and in effect cut communications between the drone and its operator . . . The British army acquired the system with its communication jamming elements and electro-optical identification component - but without its hard-kill laser."

Perpetrators of the Gatwick drone incident caught. Allegedly amateur radio-control hobby aircraft enthusiasts. Foolish people being foolish but in manner as causing a lot of ECONOMIC disruption and more importantly DANGER to human life? Perpetrators run to ground and seemingly this not a matter of terrorism.

BRITISH MILITARY FORCES  NONETHELESS DEPLOYED AND IN ACTION USING ELECTRONIC-COUNTER-MEASURES [ECM] GEAR OF ISRAELI MANUFACTURE!!

coolbert.

Mustine.

This is coolbert:

"War! What is it good for?"

Here with a serendipitous discovery a chemotherapy drug [the first?] as a result of an inadvertent contamination of American personnel with mustard agent, the Second World War, Bari, Italy.

"Also during World War II, an incident during the air raid on Bari, Italy, led to the release of mustard gas that affected several hundred soldiers and civilians. Medical examination of the survivors showed a decreased number of lymphocytes. After World War II was over, the Bari incident and the Yale group's studies eventually converged prompting a search for other similar compounds. Due to its use in previous studies, the nitrogen mustard known as 'HN2' became the first chemotherapy drug mustine."

A decrease in the number of lymphocytes that significance of which is unknown to me other than such cells [lymphocytes] described as "killer cells" part and parcel of the human body immune system.

The Bari Air Raid the last "fling" of the Luftwaffe during WW2. One of those American warships in the harbor of Bari when bombed the release of chemical warfare agent mustard prodigious, contamination widespread and A SECRET AT THE TIME AND FOR YEARS AFTER WARDS.

Before Bari NO chemotherapy drugs existed? After Bari the situation changed dramatically, a new way of treating cancers hitherto undiscovered now made apparent? All a result of WAR!

Read further of the Bari Raid, the unfortunate destruction of the allied merchant vessels in harbor and in particular the release of mustard agent from the SS John Harvey.

Unfortunately this is often how modern science works, that observation that the mustard agent contained a property useful in the treatment of cancers. An entire aspect of medicine unknown prior to Bari stimulating research the results of which most profound.

coolbert.

Deadweight.

This is coolbert:

With regard to the new Army Combat Fitness Test [ACFT] and in particular the deadlift:

"Army Combat Fitness Test set to become new PT test of record in late 2020"

"Strength deadlift: With a proposed weight range of 120 to 420 pounds, the deadlift event is similar to the one found in the Occupational Physical Assessment Test, or OPAT, which is given to new recruits to assess lower-body strength before they are placed into a best-fit career field. The ACFT will require Soldiers to perform a three-repetition maximum deadlift (only one in OPAT) and the weights will be increased. The event replicates picking up ammunition boxes, a wounded battle buddy, supplies or other heavy equipment."

See this You Tube video the event strength deadlift as done in the ideal manner with regard to form.

Now for the rest of the story. According to the Internet web site of Shelly and as extracted from an article the topic of which is the deadlift as a measure of strength, the assertion that this event all poppycock!!

"poppycock - - empty talk or writing : nonsense"

"Deadlifting is a pseudo-scientific measure of strength. It is mean to select people in artificial competitions using weights arranged or “constructed” in unnatural configurations of two heavy parts connected by a specific type and diameter of bar that you’d rarely find in the real world. People who really succeed in physical jobs in real life need to be able to deal with weights in all shapes, with handholds of varying types — or no handholds — and with surface textures and slipperinesses of various values. --"

Deadweight lift as an event of the new ACFT an invalid way of measuring strength? In lieu of a better way of "measuring strength" go with the deadlift?

Devoted readers to the blog can suggest some other way lower-body strength can be measured?

coolbert.

Licking.

This is coolbert:

"A good licking"!!

Indeed!

"Royal Mail ripped for D-Day stamp depicting the wrong event"

The Royal Mail got a good licking for planning to release a stamp marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day by using an image of US forces landing about 8,500 miles from Normandy Beach, according to a report.

The stamp in question. We all make mistakes from time to time. Some more permanent than others. NOT Normandy. NOT D-Day. Close does not count either in this case?

Captioned “Allied soldiers and medics wade ashore,” the stamp was meant to depict the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, in France — but was actually taken in Dutch New Guinea in what is modern-day Indonesia

See also this image from the Democratic national convention of 2004. A tribute to the American military and American veterans with Russian naval warships as shown inadvertently. Personally I have often thought the incorporation of Russian vessels rather than American was some sort of sick insider joke. I do have my doubts.

coolbert.

P-59.

This is coolbert:

Conclusion!

Again extracts with commentary from the Internet web site "Great Power War". Topics in all cases aviation . . . oddities and curiosities for want of a better term and description.

"The Coolest Experimental Planes of World War II"

"Ryan P-59 Fireball"

Hybrid!

"The development of jet fighters began during World War II began, but the United States fell behind early as it worked on fielding propeller-driven aircraft and then building them in great numbers. One of the earliest efforts was the U.S. Navy’s P-59 Fireball, a hybrid propeller-jet fighter that lacked in several areas."

A puller and a pusher. Internal combustion engine up front and the jet engine at the rear.

The U.S. Navy in the post-war [WW2] era DID employ a hybrid warplane, the AJ Savage. A combination of propeller and turbo-jet engines. AJ a bomber warplane as to be used in a strategic nuclear role, flown from super-carriers.

coolbert.

P-75.

This is coolbert:

Still yet more extracts with commentary from the Internet web site "Great Power War". Topics in all cases aviation . . . oddities and curiosities for want of a better term and description.

The Coolest Experimental Planes of World War II

"American Fisher P-75 Eagle"

BRUTE FORCE!

"Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."

"At the outset of the war, the United States Army Air Corps was in the process of developing a number of prototype aircraft, but it would be a few years before models like the very capable P-51 Mustang were ready. Meantime, the Air Corps had to make do with fighters and interceptors that were inferior to German and Japanese planes."

"One such plane under development was the GM/Fisher P-75 Eagle. The Air Corps wanted a plane that was fast and well-armed. The Allison engine company developed a new model called the V-3420, a massive 24-cylinder engine that combined a pair of V-1710 engines into one. The Fisher Body Division of General Motors set to work building an aircraft around the engine."

Fisher with two engines combined into one drive shaft, two counter-rotating propellers. Greater speed achieved by the brute force approach. NOT so ideal and elegant from the engineering perspective but it could have worked and offered more than an expedient..

Construction and employment of the warplane too the entire developmental process short-circuited. Fisher to be an amalgam with regard to tail, wings, fuselage, cockpit, etc.

"the idea presented was to build an aircraft out of proven portions of existing airframes with the entire concoction fitted around the Allison V-3420."

coolbert.

BV 238.

This is coolbert:

Further more extracts with commentary from the Internet web site "Great Power War". Topics in all cases aviation . . . oddities and curiosities for want of a better term and description.

"The Coolest Experimental Planes of World War II"

"German BV 238 Floatplane"

Before there was the H-3 Hercules there was the BV 238? Before there was Howard Hughes there was Blohm and Voss

"German Aerospace company Blohm and Voss designed the bulk of the Luftwaffe’s flying boats during the war, and as it progressed, the firm’s engineers designed more complex — and larger — flying boats. This eventually led to the BV 238, a massive aircraft that became the largest designed by the Axis Powers during the conflict."

Think also the Howard Huges H-4 Hercules flying plane from the era of WW2. The H-4 possessing eight engines rather than six. H-4 made only one flight and is now a museum piece. I have often wondered why flying boats and not used more for military and commercial purposes both. Especially those flying boats able to use wing-in-ground technology for additional lift. Prodigious loads carried across the oceans with phenomenal speed.

coolbert.